Practical emergency preparedness, built on real operational experience.

Meet the Founder

Hi, I'm Gene Biggs — founder of Emergency Solutions by Biggs.

I started this practice to help organizations close the gap between emergency plans that look complete on paper and systems that actually function when an incident happens. Too many plans are written for compliance and shelved until they're needed — and by then, it's too late to discover they don't match how the organization actually operates.

My background combines two perspectives that don't often sit in the same person. I served as a U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman on the green side with 1st Marines — delivering trauma and combat medical care under operational pressure. From there, I built my professional career in public health emergency preparedness, including direct work on COVID-19 response. That combination shapes how I approach every engagement: I've seen what happens when systems work and when they don't, in both tactical and large-scale public-sector environments.

Today I support a broad range of organizations — government agencies, private-sector businesses, healthcare organizations, community-serving entities, and educational institutions — through emergency operations planning, training, and exercises. My focus is on building systems people can actually use under pressure: clear, scalable, and aligned with how real incidents unfold.

In addition to consulting work, I currently serve as Emergency Preparedness Consultant and School Safety Specialist with the Willamette Education Service District (WESD), and as an E-Board Member and Secretary of the Oregon Emergency Management Association (OEMA). These active roles keep me directly engaged with the practice of emergency management across Oregon.

Credentials

Education

• Master of Public Health (MPH) — Benedictine University

• Graduate Certificate in Epidemiology — Benedictine University

• B.S. Public Health, focus in Behavioral Health and Health Promotion, with a minor in Environmental Health and Safety — Oregon State University

Incident Command System

• ICS 100, 200, 300, 400

• IS-700, IS-800

• Position-Specific Training: Planning Section Chief (PSC)

• Position-Specific Training: Logistics Section Chief (LSC)

• Type III Incident Management Team experience

Additional Certifications

• Stop the Bleed Instructor

• Youth Mental Health First Aid (YMHFA) Instructor

Operational Background

• U.S. Navy Hospital Corpsman, Fleet Marine Force — Trauma and Combat Medical Care, 1st Marines

• Public Health Emergency Preparedness — including COVID-19 response

Professional Affiliations

• Oregon Emergency Management Association (OEMA) — E-Board Member, Secretary

• International Association of Emergency Managers (IAEM) — Member [VERIFY this is the org you meant]

What Sets Us Apart

Operational Experience. Plans built by someone who has actually worked under operational conditions — not just studied them.

Systems-Focused Approach. We design processes that function during real incidents, not just satisfy a checklist.

Scalable Across Environments. From single-site facilities to multi-site district and regional coordination, our work scales with the complexity of the organization.

Practical and Usable. Clear language, clean structure, and tools that staff can actually pick up and use — not 300-page documents no one will ever open.

Cross-Sector Perspective. Experience spanning government, business, healthcare, education, and community organizations means we draw on patterns and solutions that work across sectors, not just within one.

Our Approach

Effective emergency preparedness should be:

• Clear — written in language people can act on under pressure

• Scalable — sized to the organization, not borrowed from a larger one

• Aligned — matched to how the organization actually operates day-to-day

• Decision-ready — focused on what people need to know and do in the moment

Every engagement is built around functionality, coordination, and readiness. The measure of success isn't a finished binder — it's whether the people responsible for executing the plan can do so with confidence when it matters.

Why This Work Matters

Emergency Solutions by Biggs was founded to address a persistent gap: organizations across public, private, and community sectors often hold plans that meet regulatory requirements but don't reflect how their operations actually function. When a real incident happens, that gap shows up immediately — in delayed decisions, confused coordination, and avoidable harm.

Our work closes that gap. We help organizations build emergency preparedness systems that are both compliant and operationally effective — so that when something goes wrong, the response reflects training, planning, and preparation rather than improvisation.

Let's Talk

Every organization operates in its own environment, with its own risks, constraints, and operational realities. Whether you're building a preparedness program from scratch or refining plans and training that already exist, the goal is the same: systems that are clear, coordinated, and ready when it matters most.

→ [Contact us to start the conversation]